"We KNOW..."ROMANS 8:28Romans 8:28 (NKJV) “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”This is an extraordinary verse, one of those verses we should memorize, place on a refrigerator magnet next to reminders and pictures of our family, and highlight in our Bibles.First, let us understand this verse within the context of Paul’s chapter eight and the remainder of his book. Paul acknowledges our present day sufferings and afflictions.As a matter of fact, all of creation “groans and labors (travails) with birth pangs” (8:22) awaiting the day when all will be restored and made right by the Lord Himself.Paul completely identifies with our present day afflictions because he personally was subject to so many himself, even though he was an early apostle of Jesus Christ and the author of much of the New Testament.He experienced all manner of persecution, suffering, and hardships as a follower of Christ.So he fully understands this idea of a fallen world which is a far cry from the perfect paradise at the point of creation.Nevertheless, Paul was able to categorically affirm this verse to the Christians of Rome (and to us).So let us take a closer, in-depth look at its meaning.Let me repeat the verse from Romans 8:28 (NKJV) in a more literal translation from the Greek, “But we know that to those who love God all things work together for good, to those who according to purpose are called.”The difference in Greek is oftentimes the “order” of the words.The translator must change the order in order to conform to our English language rules or and in order to make sense to us.In any translation the statement begins with “But we know…”We KNOW.The following should be obvious to all who are Christians.But there is a caveat.This is the reason the order may be significant in this verse.“But we know that to those who love God,” that is, for those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and seek to glorify Him and follow Him throughout their lives, then “all things work together for good.”Note that “to those who love God” comes first in the Greek so that the reader may clearly understand that the following promise is only applicable to 1.) Christians alone, not those in the world without God, and 2.) Christians who are seeking to glorify God in their lives.The Greek word “sunergeo” (“work together”) according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon means 1) to work together, help in work, be partner in labor, 2) to put forth power together with and thereby to assist.In other words, everything that happens to us in this crazy thing called “life” is a “partner” who actually “helps” or “assists” us for our good.This is the exact opposite of the way we often believe.If we could only “see” beyond our natural eyes, then we would understand that unbelievable activity is happening behind the scenes…all for our benefit.

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